Installations are known in which a converter, which can tilt about a horizontal axis, is enclosed in an enclosure which surrounds it more or less completely, the enclosure being equipped with doors to enable charging of the converter and being surmounted by a hood which receives and sucks in the gases leaving the mouth of the converter when it is in the vertical position during refining, and which sucks in the fumes which are released into the enclosure when the converter is in a sloping position, for example, during charging operations.
The disadvantage of these known installations is that the gas leaving the converter in the course of refining, when it is in the vertical position, which is a gas rich in carbon monoxide and hence combustible, is completely burnt, no means being provided for carrying out collection without combustion.
That has the disadvantage, if it is desired to recover the heat of combustion of these gases, of its being necessary immediately to produce steam, of its being necessary to cool hotter gases and of having to extract dust from larger volumes than when collecting without combustion.
It is for this reason that it has already been proposed to connect the mouth of the converter when the latter is in the vertical position, to the suction duct by means of a sleeve which has a possibility of telescopic movement with respect to the suction duct. When the converter is in the vertical position there is then a substantially airtight connection between the converter mouth and the suction duct. When the converter is not in the vertical position the sleeve is raised and connected in a substantially airtight fashion to the enclosure surrounding the converter and to the duct for sucking away the gases.
It is in fact to be observed that in view of the large dimensions of a converter mouth, the temperature of the gases escaping from this mouth, the risks of fouling and spatter to which anything located in the proximity of this spout is exposed, the control of the movement of members of large dimensions which are located in this region, is exposed to mishaps, just as the obtaining of airtightness achieved by bearing surfaces of large dimensions subject to deformation as a result of the high temperatures and fouling is difficult to ensure.